"There’s something about being live, with a sweaty, stinking, gross, dirty body, that’s just — you’re in it," says collective member Shalon T. Webber-Heffernan. "There’s some kind of alchemy going on that’s addictive to me. I think 7a*11d is sort of the dealer, if you will! It’s keeping us all hooked onto this weird obsession."
By Nathaniel Hanula-James /Jul 9, 2026
iPhoto caption: Paul Gross in 'Waiting for Godot.' Photo by David Hou.
“The audience is with you. You bring them in. There isn't a big division between the stage and the audience,” says Gross, currently playing Vladimir in Waiting for Godot at the Stratford Festival. “They’re the final piece of the storytelling. We need them to complete the circle.”